Letters to the Editor for June 22, 2012

By Baker City Herald readers June 22, 2012 09:17 am

Wind farm imperils rare grass

The Oregon semaphore grass is a unique and amazing grass that occurs in two populations within the state of Oregon, and nowhere else in the world. It has a global heritage rank of G1, “critically imperiled because of the extreme rarity.” (Rare, Threatened and Endangered Species of Oregon, October 2010; Oregon Biodiversity Information Center, Institute of Natural resources, Portland State University).

Construction of the Antelope Ridge Wind Facility in Union County constitutes a threat to the Oregon semaphore grass. EDP Renewables chose to ignore it in their application until the Friends of the Grande Ronde Valley challenged them to address it. This rare plant is on the chopping block due to a renewable energy program that is proving to not be environmentally friendly that will ultimately provide less than 1 percent of our energy production. The question now is how many other endangered species of plants and animals are being ignored?

Pamela Wilkinson

Cove

Not good news for Romney?

Local Obama critic Pete Sundin (June 13 Herald) notes that attorney John Wolfe of Chattanooga, Tenn., has garnered a significant percentage of votes in several state Democratic presidential primaries. Sundin concludes that there is much discontent with their president among Democrats, which would seem to bode well for Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.

What Sundin fails to tell the reader is that Wolfe is farther left politically than Obama. He wants tighter regulation of big banks and expanded use of Medicare. Democrats and independents who voted for Wolfe may be even less likely to vote for Mitt Romney.